DWx

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jun/07/london-2012-taekwondo-aaron-cook?CMP=twt_gu http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18365361 So its all kicking off in the world of British Olympic TKD. British Taekwondo has chosen Lutalo Muhammad to fight in the -80 kg division at the Olympics even though Aaron Cook is the world number 1 and Muhammad is ranked 59. As usual politics is involved and now Cook's team are pursuing legal action. Pressure's now on for Muhammad to perform. Bonus: Cook (blue) v Muhammad (red) at the German Open this year

http://www.local10.com/news/Tae-kwon-do-teacher-accused-of-molestation/-/1717324/14749854/-/110o557z/-/index.html Now if this is true, its disgusting and I hope he rots in jail. But there have been cases of teachers (both in martial arts and schools) and other adults in a position of authority being wrongly accused. And not just by children but by adults too. In such situations like this, even if you are found not guilty it can still ruin your's and your family's life. So as instructors what do you do, if anything, to protect yourself from false accusations? Do you have some sort of system in place? Do you always make sure a 3rd party is present? Do you go to the extreme of having CCTV? What would you do if wrongly accused?

Depends on what my goal is and what position I am in when I decide I want to kick. But if we're going for a technical point of view, I guess we tend to not pull back as far as you do. True it gives you more distance in order to build up speed but that is also more distance to be seen. In non-technical scenarios, such as sparring, I won't even chamber as far back as I do in basics, in order for a quicker kick. It does sacrifice some power but the kick arrives sooner. For foot positions I used blade of the foot for striking but when I want a pushing kick I use heel.

^ oh ok sorry, you never know though some people do see a name like that and think they should stay well away!

Sorry but why do you say that? They're just the proper chemical names for vitamin B6 and vitamin E. They naturally occur in loads of things: grains, oils, nuts, meat and fish etc. If you didn't consume them you'd become ill.

I agree with this to an extent but don't disregard everything because it has a chemical name on the ingredients. Know what the additive actually is as often it is something that naturally occurs in your food anyway. For example, one of the one's that irritates me is people staying well away from vanillin yet happily eating something which declares it uses real vanilla extract... well er they're exactly the same thing!

To lose weight you've got to create a calorie deficiency so you're burning more than you're consuming. Simple as that. How you go about it depends on you. Easiest thing to do at the start is cut out the junk: no soda, no greasy burger on a Friday night. Then you need to look at replacing or reducing the rest your food. If portion control is an issue, buy smaller plates so it looks like you're eating more. Steam instead of fry. Try http://www.loseit.com Works out roughly how many calories you should be eating each day and allows you to track what you're eating. Also has both iphone and android apps. Loads of great ab exercises you can do, just google "ab workouts" or something along those lines. Exercises like situps, plank, side plank, russian twists, v-sits etc

Welcome Trevelyan

Welcome BassaiNige

^ I agree getting stronger can help but I don't think this is just a size issue and getting bigger isn't going to miraculously make OP a better sparrer. I know gaining muscle mass won't slow a person down, but if your timing, technique and footwork still suck all you've done is made yourself a bigger target. Sure you can probably soak up the hits better and throw a harder a punch but if you still don't know how to use what you've got, you're no better off. Maybe I've got it wrong, I don't know, but I think that although OP thinks its due to size, it might be not. A lot of people think that bigger people are better sparrers because they seem to always get beat up by them but a lot of the time its just because heavier people also tend to be taller so have got a longer reach and they can naturally hit harder/take harder hits. A good technical lightweight or middleweight can take a mediocre heavyweight any day. Also if OP is seriously considering tournaments then he needs to look at his height and build relative to other people in his weight category. As you go up the categories people get taller and its a good idea if SBMForLife either has a height advantage or matches the people in his weight. For instance, the guys in the top category, +70 kg or whatever it is, will often be over 6ft. If OP is 5 ft 5 then he's going to struggle no matter how bulky he gets... unless he's Kenji Midori in disguise.

With respect guys, I don't think telling SBMForLife to just put on weight and gain muscle mass to be a better sparrer is a good suggestion. We don't know anything about his build, his height etc. 57 kg might be alright for how tall he is and how he is built. Additional muscle mass alone isn't going to make him a better fighter either. If anything he'll just be a bigger, slower target to hit unless he trains technique and speed! I'd go with Trevelyan's and Get'erDone's advice; train first and you'll see a much more noticeable improvement than just piling on the pounds.

Great post sensei8 Should look after your loyal students. On the flip-side those same students also have a duty to set a good example as everyone will look to them for cues since they're the ones who have the most experience.

Welcome to KF SBMForLife That's the problem with sparring with people of different builds and abilities - you get really mismatched. But in training you have to remember that the goal isn't necessarily to win every single bout, it's to get better. If you're walking all over the people with less ability than you, you're no better than the bigger people who do bet the hell out of you. If you clearly outclass someone, you should be using your sparring time to push yourself and improve technically (or to teach them). Work on things you wouldn't do normally but that you want to get better at. For instance, I used to suck at kicking with my left leg but made myself spar kids and beginners using only my left leg and saw a dramatic improvement. Now when I spar people of the same skill level or better, I'm more comfortable at using my left side. Pick a technique or couple of techniques and force yourself to do them. If you want to make it challenging, set yourself goals during each bout such as you have to score using a particular combo or counter. When you spar better guys you should use a similar approach. Whilst working on footwork and evasion to not get hit, also set yourself goals. You're probably not going to win the match but you should still be using that time to improve. Maybe say to yourself that you have to score once using X technique. On your next bout you should aim to score twice with X. On your third, score 3 times with X and so on.

Interesting post still kicking. I think part of the problem (if it is one) is that on KF we have people from such diverse backgrounds. Not only does everyone have different experiences and mindsets with regards to their training and their martial arts, we've also got an array of different cultural backgrounds here too. But that's the beauty of of online communities. We're going to have different opinions and are not always going to agree on everything. I think things would be very boring on here if everyone agreed all the time; discussions would be very one dimensional. My experiences as a TKD practitioner living in a tiny village in rural England are going to be totally different to a Karateka who grew up in a major US city. But like you said, respect is crucial no matter what our opinions. However, along with respect, I think its important to bear in mind that people also communicate differently and that things are easily misinterpreted online. I don't think everygrey necessarily meant that as disrespectful but it could be interpreted as such. For example, when I say "sport-Karate" I mean a different thing to semi-contact or light-contact sparring; they're not one and the same. But for others they might be so misunderstandings occur.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I don't have access to a makiwara at the moment so was just wondering if anyone had any alternatives. Fists are so much easier to condition...

Thanks for sharing Ev Looks like it was a good event. Get any action shots?

What styles are available in your area? No good us suggesting something that you'll have to drive hours on end to find the nearest school that teaches it Also what are you looking for out of your 2nd art? Are there any areas where American freestyle karate is lacking or areas you want to improve on. What do you like doing? What do you want to do more of? Just trying to get an idea of what you want otherwise we'll all just end up listing styles we want to train in or our favourite styles.

Could always go for a bit of subliminal messaging: Champion - Chipmunk ft. Chris Brown All I do is Win - DJ Khaled ft. Ludacris, Rick Ross, T-Pain & Snoop Dog Remember the Name - Fort Minor/Styles of Beyond Champion - Kanye West http://youtu.be/90VMfj3GhDs hahahaha If you want rock, I always think a bit of ACDC or Guns N Roses is good. Or stuff like Linkin Park tends to work well Er just a couple of different ones I've considered using for demos: Let You Go - Chase & Status ft. Mali The Echo Game (from House of Flying Daggers) bit short for the 2 mins but works well when played straight after the music for the opening titles (which I can't find on YouTube) Or for overly dramatic, a bit of O Fortuna - Carl Orff: I have actually got like a techno remix of this on my itunes which would work well but have no idea who did it or where I got it from.

I disagree. A level of flexibility is important to prevent injuries, no matter what MA one is doing. I do agree that doing the splits isn't likely as beneficial for an Aikidoka as it is for a high kicker in TKD, but it is still important, and won't hurt an Aikidoka at all.Agreed. Flexibility isn't just about kicking high. Its range of movement available to you. The greater that is, the less likely you're going to pull something.

Welcome whitegi

Welcome Nick

Welcome

Welcome Jazzy

That's a pretty good idea. The side kick is such a weird kick, roundhouses are much more natural.

Good conditioning exercises for striking with the elbows? I like my breaking and have moved on to breaking more with my elbows now. Specifically front strikes so want to condition the forearm part. Other than striking heavy bags and just breaking more, what kind of conditioning exercising do people do?